People v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 05 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04CA0179.,04CA0179.
• Citation: 159 P.3d 730
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kristina TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

159 P.3d 730

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kristina TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04CA0179.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. V.

October 5, 2006.

Rehearing Denied November 30, 2006.

Certiorari Dismissed February 14, 2007.

John W. Suthers, Attorney General, Denver, Colorado; Kathleen M. Byrne, Special Assistant Attorney General, Boulder, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

David S. Kaplan, Colorado State Public Defender, Andrea R. Manning, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant.

Prior Opinion Announced: June 30, 2005, WITHDRAWN

Petition for Rehearing GRANTED

Opinion by Judge ROY.

Defendant, Kristina Taylor, appeals the judgment of conviction entered upon jury verdicts finding her guilty of forgery, § 18-5-102(1)(c), C.R.S.2006, a class 5 felony, and attempting to influence a public servant by unlawful means, § 18-8-306, C.R.S.2006, a class 4 felony. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

Pursuant to the conditions of a deferred judgment and sentence in an unrelated case, defendant was ordered to perform eighty hours of useful public service. A county caseworker was assigned to supervise defendant's performance of this obligation.

Defendant proposed performing her service at a local church. The caseworker provided her with the necessary forms to be completed by the church and returned to the county agency (the agency) for verification after the service was performed.

A few months later, the caseworker received the forms back. One form was signed by defendant and by a person identified as the "pastor" of the church. The second form was also signed by the "pastor," indicating defendant had done an exemplary job working in "the church food bank." A caseworker contacted the church to verify the information and discovered that there was no "pastor" or other employee of the church by the name stated on the forms. Based on this information, the caseworker began an investigation that culminated in defendant being charged.

At trial, the pastor testified that the church only allowed persons to perform useful public service in its food and clothing bank. He further testified that he had not signed either of the two forms submitted to the agency and that he had met defendant for the first time approximately one month after the forgery investigation had begun. At that meeting, defendant had told the pastor that she had performed her service for the church by collecting donations in front of a supermarket. Defendant also stated that she had done this solicitation work pursuant to the directions of a woman who had identified herself as an administrative assistant at the church.

Several months later, and after she had been charged and appeared in court, defendant returned to the church, reviewed a directory with photographs of church members, and identified the church custodian as the person who, along with a woman named "Deborah," had driven her to the supermarket where defendant claimed to have collected donations.

The pastor testified that, during one of his two meetings with defendant, she told him that Deborah had filled out the forms and signed them. He further testified that he knew the church custodian was involved in a relationship with a woman named Deborah, whom he described as a "street person" who panhandles on occasion. At trial, Deborah testified that she had never met defendant and that she had never had any involvement in supervising persons who were performing useful public service.

Defendant identified Deborah as the woman who had assigned to her and monitored the supermarket fundraising she had performed to fulfill her service. Defendant further testified that she had provided the forms to Deborah and that, following the completion of her service, Deborah had told her she would submit the forms to the agency. Defendant also testified that she received a copy of the forms in the mail and had noted the discrepancy as to how she had performed the service.

I.

Defendant first argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's verdicts. While the evidence was certainly not overwhelming, we disagree with defendant's contention that it was insufficient.

As relevant here:

(1) A person commits forgery, if, with intent to defraud, such person falsely makes, completes, alters, or utters a written instrument which is or purports to be, or which is calculated to become or to represent if completed:

...

(c) A[n] ... instrument which does or may evidence, create, transfer, terminate, or otherwise affect a legal right, interest, obligation, or status ....

Section 18-5-102.

The offense of attempting to influence a public servant by unlawful means is defined as follows:

Any person who attempts to influence any public servant by means of deceit ... with the intent thereby to alter or affect the public servant's decision, vote, opinion, or action concerning any matter which is to be considered or performed by him or the agency or body of which he is a member, commits a class 4 felony.

Section 18-8-306.

In assessing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a guilty verdict, a reviewing court must determine whether any rational trier of fact might accept the evidence, taken as a whole and in the light most favorable to the prosecution, as sufficient to support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In applying this standard, we must give the prosecution the benefit of every reasonable inference that might fairly be drawn from the evidence. Kogan v. People, 756 P.2d 945 (Colo.1988).

At the outset, we reject defendant's argument that, in closing argument, the prosecutor conceded the insufficiency of the evidence as to the forgery charge by stating that there was no evidence indicating defendant was the person who had completed the forms. When read in context, it is apparent the prosecutor made this statement to emphasize, correctly, that a person acting with the requisite intent can commit forgery by uttering a false written instrument prepared by another.

We also reject defendant's suggestion that the forms do not fall within the ambit of the forgery statute. According to defendant, the forms were not "instrument[s] which ... evidence[d], create[d], transfer[ed], terminate[d], or otherwise affect[ed] a legal right, interest, obligation, or status." However, it is beyond dispute that defendant's personal liberty interest constituted a legal right which clearly was subject to termination if she failed to perform the eighty hours of useful public service that were documented in the forms submitted to the agency. Accordingly, we reject this argument.

Turning to the sufficiency of the evidence, we acknowledge that the proof of defendant's guilt was circumstantial and that there was evidence which, if believed, might have resulted in an acquittal. However, as to the sufficiency of the evidence, the law makes no distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence. People v. Bennett, 183 Colo. 125, 515 P.2d 466 (1973). This case turns on credibility, and the jury must have concluded that Deborah was a more credible witness than defendant. As an appellate court, it is not our role to reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of witnesses. People v. Rivas, 77 P.3d 882 (Colo.App.2003).

We have already summarized the evidence presented at trial. We reject defendant's suggestion that the prosecution was obligated to prove that she mailed the forms to the agency or that she explicitly directed someone else to mail the forms on her behalf. Neither the forgery statute nor the statute criminalizing the improper influence of a public servant contains such a requirement.

In this case, there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the jury's finding that defendant caused a false written instrument to be delivered to a public servant with the intent of altering the public servant's decision relating to the termination of defendant's liberty interest. Accordingly, we conclude the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's verdicts.

II.

Defendant next argues that the trial court committed reversible error by allowing an investigator from the district attorney's office to comment on the strength of the evidence he had gathered and permitting him to explain why he did not obtain a handwriting analysis. We address the issue because it may arise on retrial. We disagree.

"`Relevant evidence' means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." CRE 401. If testimony is admissible under CRE 401, the court must then determine whether the probative value of that evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. CRE 403.

Trial courts have considerable discretion concerning the admissibility of evidence and the determination of its relevancy and probative value. In reviewing a trial court's ruling on admissibility of evidence under CRE 403, we must afford the evidence the maximum probative value attributable by a reasonable fact finder and the minimum unfair prejudice to be reasonably expected. People v. Johnson, 74 P.3d 349 (Colo.App. 2002). To constitute an abuse of discretion, the trial court's evidentiary ruling must be shown to be manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair. People v. Martinez, 83 P.3d 1174 (Colo.App.2003).

The concept of "opening the door" is a court-promulgated curative measure that is not easily defined. The concept represents an effort by courts to prevent one party from gaining an unfair advantage by presenting evidence that, without being placed in context, creates an incorrect or misleading impression. People v. Melillo, 25 P.3d 769 (Colo.2001).

Here, during cross-examination of the district attorney's investigator, defendant asked several questions establishing that the investigator had not conducted a handwriting analysis of the...